An introduction to peer challenge and support in the culture and sport sector: a guide for councils

What is peer support and challenge?

Peer challenge and support are managed and delivered by the sector for the sector. Peers, members and officers, are at the heart of the process providing councils with an external practitioner perspective and ‘critical friend’ challenge so helping them with their improvement and learning.

The use of peers helps build capacity, confidence and sustainability in local government by sharing knowledge and experience, and enables the transfer of learning between councils and across the sector. They help recognise and confirm good practice and also provide challenge to inappropriate processes and behaviours so championing change and improvement.

The LGA has been providing peer-based challenge and support for many years. Currently this ranges from a corporate peer challenge available to every council at no direct cost to service specific peer challenge including children’s safeguarding, adult social care, planning, housing, safer communities and equalities. Some of these peer challenges have a cost associated. You can find out more about the LGA’s peer challenge offer from the website:

LGA’s peer challenge offer

Since 2004, almost 70 per cent of councils have had a peer challenge and in the last year we have received a clear message from the sector that peer challenge is a valuable part of a council’s drive to improve its performance in tough times.

In the past, peer challenge programmes have been provided for libraries alongside external validated self-assessments carried out using the Culture and Sport Improvement Toolkit. We are now able to offer, at no direct cost, a limited number of peer challenge and support activities for libraries, museums and sport services. Over time, other peer based activity may be added to the portfolio.

These limited offers are currently funded by grants made by our partners Sport England and the Arts Council and are accessed by application through the LGA. Councils will be informed by LGA when funding is available. Funding is limited and will normally provide access to up to two days of peer challenge and support.

Councils can if they wish expand the grant aided activity by providing additional funding themselves or approach the LGA about self-funded peer challenge and support. How does it work?

The process will be tailored to meet your specific needs but normally consists of the following stages:

- A scoping discussion with you to clarify and define exactly what is required from the peer challenge and support. This will result in a clear written brief setting out the purpose and anticipated outputs or outcomes.
- A self-assessment by the council of the current position of the service including recent and current performance, the challenges being faced and proposals being considered all captured in a short ‘position statement’.
- Identification of a small number of key documents that the peer team need to read beforehand to understand the local context.
- An onsite visit principally to interview and discuss with key individuals and groups of stakeholders the issues and challenges being faced. These discussions also enable good practice and ideas to be shared, developed and tested with the peers. This onsite phase can take up to two days and depends on the council organising a programme of meetings and discussions for them.
- At the end of the onsite work the peer team will briefly feed back their key findings and practical suggestions for improvements.
- Finally a brief written report with recommendations is sent to the council about three weeks after the team leave confirming the feedback.

In summary, here is what happens:

| Before | Council | |--------|---------| | LGA | Council | | • Application process | • Seek endorsement from your chief executive and portfolio holder | | • Scoping meeting | • Scoping meeting | | • Assemble peer team | • Prepare position statement identifying current performance and priority issues, challenges being faced and proposals being considered | | • Logistics | • Agree date and setup interview timetable and onsite arrangements | | • Briefings for peer team on authority specifics and challenges | |

| Onsite (up to 2 days) | |-----------------------| | • Interviews with senior officers, councillors, partners and frontline staff. | | • Presentation of feedback including findings and recommendations. | | • Report circulated within three weeks. |

Councils value the flexible nature of the process and the fact that it is tailored to their own issues and requirements. They value that they can within reason determine the timing of visits to make sure they take place at the most appropriate point in their improvement journeys and planning processes.

Because the process is not rules based (there is no template or scoring system), it relies on the judgment and experience of the peer teams. Councils value the rigorous nature of the process, how well prepared the teams are and how quickly they get to grips with the issues they are asked to focus on.

Visits are always conducted in a professional manner with peers seeking to be knowledgeable yet empathetic. We try to pick a peer team who clearly understand what it takes to manage complex organisations and change processes to help facilitate honest and open dialogue and agree with you beforehand the peers.

How could you use peer support and challenge?

Councils use peer challenge and support in different ways depending on what issues and challenges they are facing but some of the more common uses of the process include:

- To provide an independent check and challenge to an existing or proposed change process.
- To provide an external review of past and current performance to help identify areas for improvement and how these could be delivered.
- To help identify and consider different ways of providing the service to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
- To provide professional and technical support to specific service delivery or development challenges.
- To help broker sensitive or difficult political or professional tensions in the service, across the council or across partners.

Recently councils have used the peer challenge and support process to provide an independent review of change processes taking place round their library and museum services.

Preparing for peer support and challenge?

Preparation is all important. The scoping meeting and other discussions with the LGA that take place prior to the visit by the peer team are crucial in getting the focus, scope and timing right. Getting the scope right is key to putting together the right peer team with the right mix of skills and experience. An example scoping document can be made available to you.

Most councils request member peers from the same political party (or parties) as the controlling group (or groups) and an officer peer from a similar type and size of council normally from outside the region. Peers are agreed with you beforehand.

It is import to prepare beforehand a short position statement which tells your story. You are encouraged to carry out a short self-assessment of the service its performance, current challenges and issues and possible future direction.

Think of it as “telling your story”, where has the service come from, where it is now and where do you want to take it in the future. You can use this as a brief introduction at the start of the onsite visit to help the peer team understand clearly your context. Include comparator data and key policy or strategy documents for the service and the council. Wherever possible, use existing documents to minimise the burdens the process places on staff. If you can provide the peer team with links to these key documents or summary versions it will assist their preparation time. Think about the key people the peer team need to meet. The right elected members, senior officers from across the council, service managers, staff, partners and other stakeholders. In some circumstances meeting customers might be helpful but given time will be short not a priority. Similarly, visits to facilities may help the peer team but given time will be short, organised tours of facilities will add little value to the process. Make sure the people you identify will be available when the peer team visit and put together a draft programme to ensure there will be adequate time to meet everyone. An example schedule can be made available to you.

The peer team usually arrives the night before. Where you have received a grant you will be required to book appropriate accommodation near to the council to ensure the peer team can function efficiently and pay all appropriate expenses direct to the peers. You will also need to provide the peer team with a base room to work in for the duration of their visit.

It is good to start the first day with an introductory meeting of key people to enable the peer team to clarify anything in the position statement, clarify the programme for the two days and confirm who they will be meeting. It is also useful to have an identified lead officer from the service to liaise with the peer team beforehand and throughout the visit.

At the end of the first day, the team will confirm any additions or changes they may want to make to the programme for the next day. They may wish to see specific individuals or look at specific information or re-meet people they met on day one.

By lunchtime on day two they will want to start drawing together their feedback and will need time to do this on their own. Time will need to be left in the programme to ensure they can adequately prepare.

**What feedback do you get?**

Feedback onsite is usually verbal and will include the main strengths the peers have seen and the areas for improvement they feel need to be addressed along with some recommendations. These should not be a surprise to you given the discussions that will have taken place up to that point. Most councils report that the feedback at the end of visits has been challenging but balanced and fair.

Peers are often able to say things that those inside the council knew but were unwilling or unable to voice, and the process often highlights new issues or priorities or leads to the re-evaluation of existing approaches and strategies.

It is not normal practice to enter into a lengthy discussion at this stage unless things need to be clarified. After giving their feedback the peer team will leave.

Within three weeks you will receive a concise written report reflecting the feedback you received on the day. You will have an opportunity to comment on this but the final document remains the views of the peer team. Once you have commented the LGA will issue the final report.

**Who are the peer team?**

We take a flexible approach to the composition of the peer team but you can tell us what peers would best meet your needs. A standard peer team is usually made up of three people: • the team will be led by an LGA officer or associate, and • a serving senior officer with experience and knowledge of the service being challenged and supported • in addition, there will be an elected member with experience of the service as well as wider corporate experience in terms of political leadership.

In some instances, if there is a need, the team may be supplemented by other specialist peers or an LGA associate with more general management experience. In some circumstances, where appropriate, an NDPB officer (for example Sport England or Arts Council) with relevant experience may be involved.

**What to do if you want a peer challenge or support**

If you want to discuss arranging a peer challenge or support for your council, please email: cts@local.gov.uk or telephone: 0207 664 3094